Close-Knit Town Shocked at Takeover of Its Police

By ROBERT HANLEY,

Published: February 2, 1994

SOUTH HACKENSACK, N.J., Feb. 1—
Quarterly property taxes are due at Town Hall now, but residents coming with checkbooks today found most of the doors locked. Only the entrance to the police headquarters was open. And it was full of strangers, screening all arrivals and admitting only those with official business.

"We're still executing warrants here," a detective from the Bergen County Prosecutor's office said sternly. His message was clear -- outsiders are unwelcome now that the prosecutor's office is running the community's 17-member Police Department and rummaging through all sorts of police files, documents and records as part of an investigation into police operations and improper favors.

It was all a very odd day for this township of 2,100 about 10 miles west of mid-Manhattan. Many people have lived here a long time and almost everybody, including the police officers, knows everybody else by first name. Everybody seemed stunned today that the County Prosecutor, John J. Fahy, ordered the takeover yesterday after the 44-year-old Police Chief, Arthur Montenegro, who grew up here, resigned suddenly.

"I was just shocked," said Betty Kiwala, a 79-year-old lifelong resident as she arrived at Town Hall bundled against a snow squall. "The police have always given excellent service. I've been taken to the hospital a few times with heart trouble. I just called the police and they were right there to help." 'They're Just Like Friends'

Cesalino Zito also has warm feelings about the police.

"To us, they're just like friends," she said. "It's like if you call and give your name, they know where you live. The police know all of the families."

Her husband, Vincent, a baker who has lived here for 24 years, said: "They really take control of the town and watch the kids and stay on the streets all night long. For me, it's one of the best towns."

It was that sense of small-town coziness, it appears, that played a major role in events that provoked Mr. Fahy's crackdown. His primary reason for seizing control of the department and installing one of his lieutenants, Alan Grieco, as temporary chief was a spate of ticket-fixing going on in the police station, Mr. Fahy said. He said his detectives were investigating several instances in which he said charges for motor vehicle violations, minor drug offenses and driving while intoxicated were either dropped or reduced at police headquarters.

"We believe it was happening very frequently for people with friends in the Police Department," Mr. Fahy said. Police officers have no discretion to reduce charges, only prosecutors or judges, he said. No Evidence of Bribery

He said his detectives had not found any evidence of extortion or bribery linked to the reduction or dropping of charges.

It is only police records, including those in the Township Clerk's office, that are being reviewed, he said. One reason for his seizing control of the department, he said, was to "preserve the integrity of their files and their evidence." He said he planned an audit of all evidence stored in the department's evidence locker. He called this inspection routine and said it was not linked, at this point, to any sign that any evidence was missing.

He said he expected the investigation to last a week or two. And he did not rule out arrests by week's end.

Until now, South Hackensack has attracted little attention. It is dominated by blue-collar workers and tidy Cape Cod houses packed tightly on narrow streets. It is thought to be the only town in the metropolitan region that is divided into three parts, separated by other towns. Go-Go Strip on Route 46

Most of the houses are in the largest section, just north of Route 46, a busy east-west highway choked with car dealerships, welfare motels, fast-food restaurants, gasoline stations and clubs advertising "Go-Go Girls." About three-tenths of a mile of this strip is in South Hackensack and the buildings on it are among the township's biggest property-tax payers.

Another piece of South Hackensack -- a pie-shaped, industrial sliver -- sits about a mile to the south on the other side of the borough of Little Ferry. The third piece is a tiny square dominated by a discount market and more industry. It is about a mile west of police headquarters, on the other side of Teterboro. Unclear Why Chief Resigned

The three pieces of South Hackensack are remnants of a far larger town, known as Lodi Township, that in the early 1800's stretched across much of southern Bergen County.

Mr. Fahy, the Prosecutor, has declined to say why Chief Montenegro, a 19-year veteran of the department, resigned on Monday. Mr. Montenegro has declined to grant interviews.

Three patrolmen resigned with Chief Montenegro, but Mr. Fahy said the three were not involved in the investigation into the reduction or dropping of motor vehicle or minor drug charges. One officer, Anthony Giaquinto, 29, was arrested on Sunday on charges of accepting illegal bets on sports events. The two others, Brian Kelly, 23, and Carmen Borrometi, 29, are said to have placed illegal bets with a bookmaker but have not been arrested, Mr. Fahy said.

Photos: While the Police Department of South Hackensack, N.J., was being run by the Bergen County Prosecutor's office because of charges of ticket-fixing and gambling, one of its officers, Anthony Giaquinto, far left, was in court on Monday to face charges of accepting illegal bets. Also in court were his father Frank, center, and mother, Mary Rose, who both face charges. At right is the officer's lawyer, Paul M. Cecere. (Associated Press); Giaquinto's Family Restaurant was raided in South Hackensack, N.J., as a scene of illegal gambling. (William E. Sauro/The New York Times)